The Lakers are moving closer to rehiring Phil Jackson, sources have told The Post. One person with knowledge of the situation expects Jackson's official decision "soon."

The Knicks have not been told by Jackson's agent, Todd Musburger, that they are out of the running and Isiah Thomas is still pursuing Jackson to coach the Knicks, hoping for a second meeting. However, sources say the Knicks have become giant underdogs in the two-team race. -------------------------

I went to a Laker board and they basically said the same thing ("any day now") and they actually gave details of what he's getting.

- $10-$12M/year (Money Dr. Buss wouldn't give him last year)- Stock options/piece of the team- Team presidency- and of course, Dr. Buss' daughter.

PS:

Frosty? I told you so. ;)

"The way I feel right now, I'd trade my mother if the right deal came along." -- Isiah Thomas.

1: I'll eat all the crow in the world when it's time, but not yet. Slow down

2: Please tell me you're not considering this Laker board of yours as a source of reputable information. Unless there are current Los Angeles Lakers employees posting on that board, they're only guessing & speculating just like the rest of us.

3: *IF* they did bring in Jackson as team president, what happens to "Asleep at the Switch" Mitch Kupchak? And I thought I heard/read somewhere that he has no interest in being a GM/president.

4: Phil is an excellent coach and I would love to have him back. However, he is not a miracle worker. If I had to choose between getting rid of Kupchak & replacing him with a good GM with a real eye for finding & getting good talent (Like Jerry West was/is), or getting Phil Jackson for a coach, I choose the new GM. Unless maybe they get Phil & he has a big hand in choosing & signing free agents/draft picks (Almost like an assistant GM?), but I just dont see it happening that way.

Originally posted by DJ FrostyFreeze2: Please tell me you're not considering this Laker board of yours as a source of reputable information. Unless there are current Los Angeles Lakers employees posting on that board, they're only guessing & speculating just like the rest of us.

1: Well, the person that posted this information on said Laker board apparently has a source from inside the Laker organization and is very reliable. Take that for what you will - but this guy found out about Coach K and the Miami trade (among others) long before they hit the news.

And for the record, I go to boards of all 29 teams. And the Hawks.

2: Phil won't be any "assistant GM". That would be Mitch. I'm willing to guess Phil would more than likely have ultimate say in roster decisions i/e Phil becomes Team President.

EDIT:

Apparently, Dr. Buss is going to speak to the media today at 3PM LA Time.

(edited by Kawshen on 4.5.05 1533)

"The way I feel right now, I'd trade my mother if the right deal came along." -- Isiah Thomas.

Originally posted by KawshenApparently, Dr. Buss is going to speak to the media today at 3PM LA Time.

Dr. Buss had his annual sit-down with the media yesterday at his office in El Segundo, CA, here are some highlights:

Buss says he is scheduled to formerly meet with Phil Jackson in a few days to discuss the vacant Lakers' coaching position. When asked about Phil's $10 million price tag, he said "I suspect we're going to pay something relatively close to that, regardless of who the coach is."

Jackson, 59, will not be offered a piece of the franchise or a front-office role in addition to coaching, said Buss, who thought Jackson and Kobe Bryant could patch up any wounds stemming from Jackson's criticism of Bryant as being uncoachable in a tell-all book released in October.

Even if it's not Jackson, Buss still wants to get a big name coach: "But only because the fact he is a name coach has indicated past success," Buss said. "I don't know if I want to take a gamble on someone who hasn't had a lot of past success." Buss also said that he expected the Lakers to be close to naming a coach by the time he leaves for his European vacation May 15 ("I think that's going to get pretty close now," Buss said. "A few days.").

On whether he thinks Kobe & Phil can put the past behind them & get along:"No question, absolutely," Buss said. "I think it's the media that [caused] problems. From Kobe's perspective, he wants to win and if he thinks that Phil Jackson is the guy that's going to cause him to win, he'll hug him, kiss him and send him a birthday present. And I say the same about Phil. Phil is about winning. He wants the championship. If it has to be for him to go to lunch every day with Kobe, he'll do it. These people want to win."

When asked if he thought Kobe would endorse Jackson if asked:"I really don't want to ask that question because he's not part of the decisionary factor," Buss said. "Kobe is the leader of this team but in terms of front-office decisions, that's up to Mitch, Jimmy and myself," he said, referring to General Manager Mitch Kupchak and assistant general manager Jim Buss, his son.

When asked if he now regrets trading Shaquille O'Neal:"He's 60 pounds lighter in Miami than he was in Los Angeles," Buss said. "And as you've probably gathered recently, he seems to be having some [health] problems. My reaction was, if he was not willing to get in shape, which he had five, eight years, some number of times to do, and we urged him. It seems that the motivation for him to lose weight was to trade him.

"As you know, Shaq is in his middle 30s and it might be difficult to build around him. I suspect if I had known he was going to lose 60 pounds I probably would have made a different decision."

They are more than $20 million over the projected salary cap for next season, not including the cost of signing their first-round draft pick and the possibility of picking up a $5.4-million option for center Vlade Divac, but they could be busy in the trade market.

"I don't think anybody is untouchable," Buss said. "We would have to get awfully good value for some of the people on this team. I like the material on this team. But you know, when it comes right down to it, if you're offered something better than what you have, most people would take it.

"Don't go off and write that I want to trade Kobe. I don't want to trade Kobe. And I really think that somebody would have to give me their franchise, their arena, and the city in order to get him. I just can't imagine anybody coming up with an offer that I'd be willing to do that. But I don't like to say never."

On Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak:"Mitch has done in my estimation an absolutely incredible job in every single department I can possibly think of," Buss said. "Mitch has been around for quite a while and a lot of things that occurred before Jerry [West] left, Mitch had a big part to do with. I know what part he played and probably other people don't give him that credit but I do because he was there."

There were 5 L.A. Times reporters present for yesterday's sit-down with Jery Buss. 3 of the 5 have articles up at the L.A. Times' website today, and I pull all of the above info from those articles. You can all of read them in their entirety HERE, but you have to register first.

“I didn’t need motivation,” O’Neal said. “I needed a real owner. ... I needed a real owner like Micky Arison. You can quote me on it...And I don’t regret [Buss] losing money and his not making the playoffs,”

(edited by Blanket Jackson on 5.5.05 1628)"Meet the kite-eating tree you son of a bitch!"

On whether he thinks Kobe & Phil can put the past behind them & get along:"No question, absolutely," Buss said. "I think it's the media that [caused] problems. From Kobe's perspective, he wants to win and if he thinks that Phil Jackson is the guy that's going to cause him to win, he'll hug him, kiss him and send him a birthday present. And I say the same about Phil. Phil is about winning. He wants the championship. If it has to be for him to go to lunch every day with Kobe, he'll do it. These people want to win."

Ah. So Kobe just wants to win. It was all the media's fault. So why, again, did Kobe force the breakup of a team that had won three straight titles and was in the Finals last year?